A 74-year-old man has been banned from using a layby north of York after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a young male.
Gerald Snowden, of Fountayne Street, off Wigginton Road, York, denied the charge but was convicted at trial at York Magistrates' Court.
He was given an 11-month prison sentence suspended for a year on condition he does 20 days’ rehabilitative activities and was banned from the layby at Skelton on the A19 for 12 months after the court heard details of how the offence was committed.
He must pay £500 to the victim of the sexual assault, who was aged 16 or older.
Snowden was also made subject to a one-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim and put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
He was ordered to pay £200 prosecution costs and a £187 statutory surcharge.
The court said the prison sentence was suspended under the new law that all prison sentences under 12 months must be suspended, except under certain circumstances.
As The Press reported back in 2022, problems with people dogging, flashing and cruising have all blighted a notorious York layby for more than 20 years.
The layby on the A19 at Skelton, just beyond the city's outer ring road, had become a magnet for cruising for sex, or cruising - people wanting anonymous sex and going into nearby woods and there were reported issues with doggers, people wanting to watch others having sex in public.
At the time PC Alex Dobson brought together the various organisations and public, to find a solution - a 115 metre long metal fence that's nearly two metres tall and now separates the layby from the trees beyond.
At the fence unveiling PC Dobson met members of the public, local councillors, businesses and the then Police, Fire and crime commissioner Zoë Metcalfe whose Community Fund has funded this project to the tune of £13,000.